Quibi, the short-form streaming service founded by former Walt Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, is to shut after just six months.
In an open letter to employees and investors Katzenberg and chief executive Meg Whitman said: “We started with the idea to create the next generation of storytelling and because of you, we were able to create and deliver the best version of what we imagined Quibi to be. So it is with an incredibly heavy heart that today we are announcing that we are winding down the business and looking to sell its content and technology assets.”
The company will now be folded as it looks to return as much capital to shareholders as possible.
“While the result was not what any of us wanted, we did accomplish a number of things and we are very proud of what the talented Quibi team has built with the blood, sweat, and tears that they poured into this business over these past two years”.
The two said the reason for the company’s failure was because “either the idea itself wasn’t strong enough to justify a standalone streaming service or because of our timing.”
In April, shortly after its launch Whitman said downloads had reached 1.7 million a week.
According to The Information, attempts to sell the venture to either Apple, Facebook or NBCUniversal have failed.
